


Stars in Our Eyes.

by theatergirl06



Series: You Deserve the World and I'll Give It to You. [2]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Beheaded Cousins., F/F, Love love love!!, Mum Jane., katanna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theatergirl06/pseuds/theatergirl06
Summary: For Katherine Howard's birthday the flowers are in bloom, the stars are out, and love is most definitely in the air.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard, Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon & Katherine Howard, Katherine Howard & Catherine Parr, Katherine Howard & Jane Seymour
Series: You Deserve the World and I'll Give It to You. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691269
Comments: 5
Kudos: 65





	Stars in Our Eyes.

Unlike her girlfriend, Katherine Howard had never hidden her birthday from the other queens. She’d never had to, because she herself had never known what it was. In her family, ages were remembered, but birthdays were quickly forgotten, and historians hadn’t seemed to be able to figure it out either. 

The first year after they’d come back, she and Anne had tried their best to not make a big deal out of it. They’d insisted they didn’t need parties, that it was no big deal. Katherine had never been sure of Anne’s reasons, but she herself had thought that birthdays were for people whose families cared about them, and she was certainly not in that category.

It was only when the rest of the queens had thrown her a surprise garden party on May 2 (6 months opposite the birthday they’d chosen for Anne), that she’d realized who her real family was.

And so she’d let them celebrate. She’d let them care. 

***

Springtime was complicated for the queens. Like many things, the queens had memories tied up in it, but there was something about the flowers that made them each more emotional than usual. 

For Catherine of Aragon, spring meant thinking about her daughter. Growing up in Spain, Catherine had always loved spring, but like her father, Mary had hated the warmer weather and the flowers. Even at eight, she’d explained to her mother that she thought the flowers were an illusion of cheerfulness in a dark world. 

Yes, Mary had definitely been a precocious child. But Catherine had never been able to get those thoughts, the idea of an illusion, out of her head.    
Since then, she’d never liked spring. 

Actually, the dislike of spring was one of the many traits she shared with Anne Boleyn. Though it had taken them while to admit it, the first two queens actually had a lot in common. However, they had completely different reasons for disliking spring. Anne’s was very simple: she had terrible pollen allergies. These had been named one of the reasons she was “definitely a witch” in her last life, but that didn’t bother her. She just  _ really  _ hated sneezing all the time. It drove her insane. 

Jane Seymour’s sweet disposition meant she enjoyed the lightness of spring and summer, though she admittedly enjoyed summer a bit more. But springtime for some reason always brought about something new in Jane. Spring was the season of her wedding. For most of the other queens, their wedding symbolized everything they hated. They tended to ignore their wedding days, or make a point by going out with whoever they were dating at the moment.

For Jane, her wedding day really had been the happiest day of her life. She’d truly believed there had been something special between her and Henry. Of course, she also knew what he’d done to the other queens, but his place in her heart was always complicated and hard to handle. This was why Jane tended to be more subdued in the early days of spring, often found sitting on one of the balconies in the rain, deep in thought. 

However, once the wedding days (as Anne had dubbed them) were over, Jane was often even more lively than usual, which Cathy had said was because she was glad to have the weight of her wedding off her shoulders for another year. 

Anna of Cleves was easiest to understand in springtime. Winter was the German queen’s favorite season. She loved the cold and the wind and the snow, and always had. Spring meant winter was over, and climate change meant it seemed to come earlier every year. Though Anna was often very closed-off with her emotions, there would be days in the springtime where she would make it clear that she was  _ not  _ in a cheerful mood at all. But thanks to Kat and Anne’s best efforts, the fourth queen tended never to be grumpy for too long. 

For once, Katherine Howard wasn’t being fussed over, which she loved. It had taken her a long time after they’d first arrived to build relationships with the other queens, but many of those queens had taken to being  _ very _ overprotective due to her fragile state when they’d come back. Kat had worked hard to build herself up, to make herself strong, and despite her past, she’d come out on the other side feeling happy and whole. That didn’t mean she wasn’t plagued by the occasional nightmare, but she was at the happiest she’d ever been in both her lives. 

Except sometimes it felt like the others just didn’t see that. They looked at her and saw the same girl she’d been when they came back. 

But she loved the springtime so much. It was by far her favorite season. And she was so happy the others couldn’t help but notice. It was the time of year they worried least about her.

So for Kat, springtime was a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one. 

For Cathy Parr, springtime was a time of insanity. So many of the other queens were dealing with a ton of stuff in the springtime, and it often fell to her (and sometimes Kat) to help everyone. This wasn’t a job she minded, but she relished the fall and winter, when she could hole up in her room and write and forget the world. In the springtime, that opportunity came less and less, though she relished the days when it rained. Those were her writing days, and they belonged to her and her alone.

Maybe it was selfish, but Cathy Parr loved it when her time was only hers. 

As May 2 approached however, she was more than happy to help Jane and Anne in their party planning and secret keeping. It was Kat, after all. 

What she didn’t know was that all the queens were keeping secrets, including those who she never would’ve thought were party planners. 

***

On April 25th, Jane Seymour was having an almost ordinary day. Anne had agreed to take Kat out for a day of “Anne-style fun,” which she normally would have worried about, but Cathy had agreed to go and keep an eye on them, so Jane was able to put her worries to rest, at least a little bit. She planned on spending the day trying out different cake recipes. Like Anna and Catherine, Kat was a fan of chocolate cake, but unlike the Spanish queen, who leaned towards chocolate and peanut butter, or the German one, who liked chocolate and...more chocolate, Kat was very partial to chocolate cake with strawberries or raspberries and cream. She also never said no to Oreos. 

There were many recipes on the internet for chocolate cakes with berries and cream, chocolate cakes with jam, chocolate cakes with Oreos, and Jane was determined to find the perfect one. Neither of the divorced queens were bakers, so Jane expected to be on her own.

Which is why she was surprised to see one Anna of Cleves standing in the kitchen doorway. 

Despite having flour in her hair, fruit juice on her hands, and chocolate on her apron, Jane stepped away from the cake batter and gave a warm wave to the German queen.

“Good morning, love!”

“Good morning, Jane.”

“No, you can’t have any cake batter.”

Anna laughed. Jane smiled. These two queens weren’t very close, but Jane always liked it when she could make someone laugh. 

“Actually, that’s not why I’m here. I need your...permission for something.”

“Oh, Anna love, you don’t need my permission for things. If it’s not something incredibly stupid, you don’t have to ask, and if it is, I don’t want to know about it.”

“This is about Kat.”

Jane froze. Oh God. What was this?

Seeing her look of apprehension, Anna was quick to place her hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing like...that. Or...that. This is something for her birthday.”

Jane sighed with relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Kat to be more serious with her relationship. 

“If it’s for her birthday, what do you need my permission for?”

“Well,” the German queen looked a tad uncomfortable, a rare look for her, “it’s a little...unconventional.”

Jane felt her eyebrows shoot up, and she closed the door, staining the knob red with strawberry juice as she did so.

“All right. Let’s hear what’s happening in your head.”

***

On the morning of her “birthday”, Kat woke up not realizing it  _ was  _ her birthday. She lay in bed for a few minutes, just letting the sun warm her face and the sounds of the birds fill her ears. 

And then it hit her. It  _ was  _ her birthday. There was going to be hugging and laughter and the cake that Jane had been trying unsuccessfully to hide from her as she made attempt after attempt at baking.

She smiled and flung herself out of bed. She looked at her clothes and threw on a pale pink pleated sundress that she particularly liked. She carefully arranged her hair in a braid on the side of her head, thinking she might put flowers in it before the day ended. 

Before she even got outside the door, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her head and cover her eyes. Startled, she screamed and kicked out backwards. The hands fell away with an annoyed shriek and Kat spun around to see her attacker. 

“Bloody hell, Kat, I didn’t know you could kick like that.” A slightly annoyed but grinning Anne Boleyn was lying at her feet. 

“Oh god, Anne, I didn’t mean to do that!” Fear ran through Kat’s veins, but her cousin was laughing. 

“What are you apologizing for? I shouldn’t have scared the living daylights out of you!”

Kat laughed. “But?”

Anne grinned again. “ _ But  _ I need to cover your eyes so I don’t spoil the surprise.”

Kat smiled, heart full of warmth and love for her cousin. “Alright. But be gentle or I’ll give you another kick like that one.”

Kat was a little nervous as she began to walk with her eyes covered. But Anne proved a reliable guide, always looking out for the cracks in the sidewalk and the extra big steps. It crossed her mind that if Anne could be so careful for Kat, why she was so often unable to be careful for herself. 

At last, they reached wherever they were going. The route felt familiar to Kat, but with her eyes covered, she still couldn’t quite identify where they were. Anne’s fingers tickled her eyelids.

“Are you ready?”

“Just show me already!”

Anne laughed and uncovered her eyes.

“SURPRISE!”

Kat squealed in delight as she ran directly into four pairs of arms, ready to hug her. They were standing on the top of the tallest hill at their favorite park, in the center of a grove of cherry blossom trees. There was a picnic blanket with a pink basket full of food. All the queens and ladies-in waiting were there. Music played out of a speaker system, and there was a pile of gifts on the corner of the blanket. Nothing fancy, just flowers and pure beauty.

“Oh.”

Jane, who was currently closest to her in the hug, pulled back with a slightly worried look on her face. “Is everything all right, love.”

Katherine laughed. “It’s  _ perfect. _ ”

And so the day went on. They danced, they sang along to pop songs on the speakers. They ate little sandwiches, soft pretzels, fresh fruit, and cake. Kat opened gifts, and gave a hug for every gift she got, and then she gave more hugs. She loved it all, but one thing confused her.

In her gift from Anna, there wasn’t anything. Only a note.

_ Later.  _

Kat of course had no way of figuring the note out. So she focused on the day. She focused on watching the sun set over the trees. She focused on Anne and Jane’s arms constantly around her. She focused on their homemade pizzas and ice cream sundaes back at the apartment. But she had no need to work hard to focus when Jane got up and declared that some people had some things to say.

She knew she was going to cry even before it started. 

Cathy went first. She said she was going to read a poem that she’d written. She cleared her throat.

“Dear friend. How could I have ever thought we’d go this far? I never knew how strong you were. How much you’d end up giving me.

Dear friend. When I first met you, I didn’t know the half of you. But now I do.

You taught me so much. You taught me love, compassion, and sisterhood. You taught me strength and growth and loyalty. I look at you every day, and I don’t see regular person. I see something amazing.”

Kat felt her eyes tearing up.

“I want you to know that wherever you go, I will always be with you. Because you’re not my friend anymore.” Cathy took a deep breath. “We’re family.”

Kat leapt up and gave Cathy a huge hug before she could even sit down. 

The sixth queen smiled. “Hug Catherine, too. She helped me write it.”

“She’s being modest…” Catherine began, but Kat leapt on her and wrapped her arms around her before she could finish.

Jane was next, and crying before she even began. Kat was crying, too. 

“Kat...I don’t even know where to start. We’ve been through so much since we came back. You were my first friend, but little did I know...that you would become so much more.” Jane took a breath, tears sliding down her cheeks. “As the months went by, I watched you grow from a scared child into a strong, loyal, amazing woman. I love you to death, Kat, but I also admire you so much. You really are an incredible human being. I was proud to call you my friend, and then I realized that I thought of you as something different. As a daughter. And when you asked me if you could call me mum...well, I was completely over the moon. And, well…” Jane was crying so much that she could barely get the words out. “The rest is history.” 

Kat didn’t even have to leap up to hug Jane. Jane’s arms were around her before she even started moving.

Anne went last, and she surprised them all when she pulled out Kat’s guitar and began to play a soothing melody.

Anna scooped Kat up in her arms and began to carry her upstairs.

_ You saw through me. All this time. I’d forgotten people are kind. I was hurting, and you knew, so you showed me what to do. _

They reached the landing, Anne’s voice carrying up the stairs behind them.

_ You said “I will listen. Tell it all. When you’re finished, we’ll talk more.” But I didn’t know how so we took it in turns. To my surprise, we found my words. _

Kat felt her eyes drooping shut.

_ Ooh, feet firm on the ground, ooh, we stood hand in hand. _

Anna laid her into bed.

_ The world seemed to tell me that I have a plan. _

She tucked her in.

_ Ooh, together we sang _

_ I’m ready now.  _

And she fell asleep.

Three hours later, she woke up with a heavy weight on top of her body. She looked up and saw Anna grinning at her in the darkness. 

“What’s going on?”

“I said ‘later’ didn’t I?”

Kat yawned. “Yeah.”

“It’s technically still your birthday. I’d like to give you your present.” Anna paused. “If you’re okay with that?”

Kat laughed as she pulled herself out of bed. “Of course I am.”

Anna took her hand as they tiptoed out of the apartment and onto the streets. Sometimes the streets at night scared Kat, but not tonight. Tonight, it seemed the whole world belonged to her. 

Eventually, Kat realized they’d walked all the way to the tallest building in their neighborhood. The building with the fancy rooftop deck that they always joked about never having access to.

Kat stared at her. “Wait...did you pay for access to this place?”

Anna grinned. “Only the rooftop.”

Kat laughed. “Then how will we get up.”

“On the fire escape.”

“Jane is going to kill us.”

“On the contrary, she knows we’re doing this.”

“Wow. You really went all the way.”

“Liebling, of course I did.”

Kat smiled and squeezed Anna’s hand again. She grinned mischievously.

“Well, then Anna of Cleves, are you ready to climb?”

Anna smiled and pulled her up. 

When they reached the rooftop, they didn’t dance of do anything fancy. They just sat and stared up at the sky. 

“You know, I shouldn’t be able to see the stars tonight.”

“They must be out just for you.”

Katherine turned and looked into Anna’s eyes. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Anna smiled and squeezed her hand. “You brought me to the mountains for my birthday. This is hardly that.”

“No, but it’s for me. And for that, it’s perfect.”

Anna turned and stared at her. “You know, I never made a speech for you earlier.”

Katherine smiled. “That’s true.” She put her arms around her girlfriend and rested her head on her shoulder. 

“You don’t have to say anything if you’re not comfortable.”

Anna sighed and untangled herself from Kat’s arms. “No, Kat, I need to say this. I may be uncomfortable, but it’s your birthday. I want to tell you how I really feel.”

Kat looked her girlfriend right in the eyes. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“Exactly why I want to tell you this now.”

“Alright then.”

“Alright.” Anna took a deep breath. “When I came back into the world, I did so without fear, but with more scars than I was willing to admit. I came with the deepest belief that I was unlovable. That even the people who were supposed to love me never could because there was something deeply wrong with me. And then I saw you. Someone I trusted. Someone I cared about. I got to know you again. And then I realized I saw you as something more than a friend. But because of your past, I didn’t want to tell you. But you...you told me you felt the same way. I didn’t think I could feel so much joy until you told me that. As I’ve experienced these months of being with you, I’ve learned how to really love. You taught me that, Kat. I’ll  _ always  _ be grateful for that. And I’ll always love you.”

Kat wasn’t surprised to find tears in her eyes. “Anna...I’ve never seen you be this open with me.”

Anna laughed. “Consider it your birthday present.”

Kat leaned her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “You know all that stuff you just said?”

“Yeah.”

“Most of it is true for me, too.”

“Really?”

“Really.” 

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

And the two girlfriends put their arms around each other and stared up at the sky. They didn’t speak anymore. They just enjoyed the feeling of being with one another. Kat was sure it was her favorite feeling in the world. 

They looked up at the stars. The stars glowed.

Kat saw the stars reflecting in Anna’s eyes.

And she relished in the feeling that, for the first time in both of her lives, she was completely head over heels in love. 


End file.
